The Elizabeth Legacy

An online forum I am part of recently had a discussion on where our children's names come from. It reminded me of this precious letter which my grandmother sent to us almost 2 years ago, after our ultrasound confirmed Clara was a girl and we announced her name to our families. I knew the name Elizabeth had been in our family for a long time, but didn't know the specifics and it was so sweet to learn more about the Elizabeth ancestors. A few of my clarifications are in un-italicized parentheses.


April 3, 2009

Dear Erin and Luke,

I am honored and happy that my first great grandchild, a great grand-daughter, will have Elizabeth as one of her given names. Thank you for choosing that name and continuing a family tradition which dates back many, many years.

You already know much about the women in the family whose name includes Elizabeth: Erin Elizabeth Pinckney Olson (me!), Frances Elizabeth DuBose Pinckney (my mother), and Elizabeth Anne Craig DuBose (my grandmother, the writer of this letter). I wanted to share with you some personal memories and other information I have about my grandmother and baby (Clara) Elizabeth's great, great, great grandmother, Leah Elizabeth Rochester Craig.


Leah Elizabeth was born August 10, 1866, and died May 8, 1944. Her parents were Hollis D. Rochester, 1833-1899, and Esther Burns Rochester, 1844-1885. The name, Elizabeth, goes back even farther to Leah Elizabeth's grandmother, Elizabeth Boyd Whitten Rochester, 1814-1882, who married Jonathan Rochester, 1808-1870. This Elizabeth would be baby (Clara) Elizabeth's great, great, great, great, great grandmother. There are other Elizabeth ancestors who lived before 1814, so I think it is appropriate to say that this name has been on our family tree for well over 200 years.

Erin, several years ago you and your family visited Craig Hill. You will remember the house and grounds, but much has changed about the farm and surroundings since Leah Elizabeth lived there and I visited her there.

When I knew Grandma she owned a large farm called Craig Hill in the Lebanon community of Anderson County, South Carolina. I never knew her husband and my grandfather, David Jesse Miller Craig, 1855-1924. Following his death in 1924, Grandma became the highly respected matriarch of the Craig family for 20 years.

While I was not quite 12 years old when my Grandma died, I have fond memories of summertime visits with her on the farm. It was a long, hot, two-day ride from Oklahoma to South Carolina, but we went there each summer for a visit. Grandma came to Oklahoma soon after I was born, but I don't think she made other visits to see us there.

When at Grandma's house, we feasted on vegetables from her plentiful garden, hot biscuits or cornbread with freshly churned butter, fried chicken and other dishes she cooked on or in the woodstove she fired up each morning, even in the hot summertime with no air conditioning. We drank whole milk with lots of cream on top from the cows she raised and used a dipper for drinking cold water brought up in a bucket from the well in the front yard. When not preparing a meal, Grandma usually had big pots on the wood stove, filled with boiling water and the jars of vegetables she was canning.

Grandma kept food that needed to be kept cold in an ice box which held a huge block of ice. She kept potatoes, onions, and other vegetables and cured meat cool in the cellar under the house. There were no indoor bathroom facilities, but each bedroom had a beautiful porcelain pitcher and wash basin for bathing. We used the outhouse when necessary or the chamber pot at night.

It goes without saying that there were no televisions, computers, or electronic games. We created our own activities and entertainment. With my two cousins who lived on the farm and my brother, Roy, we had fun riding in the wagon on the dusty back-country roads, riding on the tractor in the fields, swimming in the pond which was also used for watering the livestock, and playing for hours in the hayloft in the barn. We set up a stand in the front yard to sell watermelons and cantaloupes grown on the farm. There were always lots of dogs and cats to play with and we were excited to gather eggs in the hen house each day.

Grandma was a very hospitable person. Her big house, with its front porch, was the gathering place for many friends and family members. I remember especially Sunday afternoons when many gathered on her front porch to visit and enjoy the lemonade or iced tea she served to everyone. She also provided a hot meal at noon each day to lots of workers on the farm who promptly came in from the fields of cotton and tobacco when they heard the big bell on the back porch.

Grandma was a pillar and faithful member of the Mt. Zion Presbyterian Church in Sandy Springs, SC. She was a charter member of Mt. Zion's first Missionary Society, organized on April 16, 1914. The Centennial Celebration for Mt. Zion (organized in 1832) was held on August 20-21, 1932. Grandma was a member of the group in charge of arrangements for this event. Her two sons who were ministers, Roy Rochester Craig (my father) and Augustus Rochester Craig (Uncle Gus), sometimes preached at Mt. Zion when they were there or held revival services during the week. My father, Roy, was a minister in Oklahoma for many years and Uncle Gus was a missionary in China. Grandma's oldest son, Marcus (Uncle Mark), was ordained and installed as an elder at Mt. Zion Church in 1920 and was the efficient Clerk of Session for 33 years. In 1982, he was honored as Elder Emeritus.

Many Craig relatives are buried in the cemetery behind Mt. Zion Church, including Grandma and my grandfather and two of their sons, Roy Craig and his wife, Lila Young Amis Craig (my parents) and Marcus Craig and his wife, Nellie Eskew Craig.

Grandma believed in the value of education. She attended Williamston Female College in Williamston, South Carolina. There are several receipts for her tuition, one of which indicates that her father paid $30.00 for her tuition for the fall session, 1882. Grandma's school papers, a few of which I have, contain her beautiful handwriting, eloquent language, and inspired thinking. In one paper titled A Good Cause makes a Stout Heart she wrote, "A man is not born with courage; for it is acquired and then it becomes a natural quality. Courage may be displayed on any occasion if attended by any danger whatever, but it requires the most dangerous and difficult actions to prove real and true courage." She continues, "A mind that is conscious of a just and good cause is not ashamed to face the whole world."


In keeping with Grandma's commitment to education, two of her sons (Roy and Gus) graduated from Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, and Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. One son (mark) graduated from Clemson College with a keen interested in entomology and used his education in agriculture to successfully continue the operation of the Craig farm until his death.


I remember Grandma as a quiet, gracious, industrious, rather plain-looking woman. Roy, my father (1900-1975) and the youngest of her sons, was the one whose disposition and facial features most closely mirrored his mother's. Grandma always seemed calm and at ease amidst a house full of people. She moved efficiently, but without hurrying and she spoke gently, but with authority. She seemed to live her beliefs, but not to thrust them on others. She was a kind, caring, thoughtful woman; a loving, trusting, supportive mother; an astute, knowledgeable, resourceful business woman; and a faithful, involved, committed member of Mt. Zion Presbyterian Church.

In addition to Grandma's son, Marcus, his wife, and their two children, my grandfather's old-maid sister, Kate, lived with Grandma on the farm until her death. With three generations and three women living under the same roof, Grandma was the glue that cemented harmonious family relationships. She managed a large, productive farm with many workers whose families lived in houses on the farm. Matt and Sudie, an old, frail, black couple lived a short distance from Grandma's house and we always enjoyed walking to their house for little visits with them. Grandma cared for them as family and they loved her dearly.

 Grandma maintained an active role in the life of Mt. Zion Presbyterian Church and the Lebanon community. Most of all, she raised three sons whose lives touched countless people for good in Oklahoma, China, and the Carolinas. One of her sons was my father and the person who has had the greatest influence on my life. He lived 43 years after I was born and was especially happy in September, 1975, the month and year he died, that his granddaughter had recently become a student at Davidson College. He was always so very proud of her, but didn't live to see her graduate from his alma mater or become a wife and mother of six children.

We hope that during the next few months baby (Clara) Elizabeth's growth and development will progress well and that both of you will experience the joy of her birth and your new role as parents. We're looking forward to seeing pictures of baby (Clara) Elizabeth and, hopefully, to seeing her in person as soon as possible after her birth.

I'm enclosing four pictures of Grandma and other family members. While these are very old photographs, they will give you an idea of what Leah Elizabeth looked like as an older adult and what Elizabeth Anne looked like as a small child.

Love Always,
Mamaliz

(I will attempt to scan these photographs into my computer within the next few days but am not sure how the quality will turn out, as they are very old and somewhat fuzzy already. However, I'll do my best!)